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California on fire...


Rick W

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I’m making a list of favorites. I didn’t start till we were a couple days in.

First was the fire chief who announced that they had cut $17 million from the fire budget, and then the mayor said that that had nothing to do with fighting fires.

Number two was when the housewife jumped at Governor Newsom with a cell phone in his hand, claiming he was talking to the president about relief. He backpedalled a little bit and said, while he wasn’t really talking to him, and actually that he had no cell coverage. that wasn’t what made him number two. What made him number two is that it’s one of the greatest economies in the world, and he’s the guy in charge of all of it, and in the middle of a catastrophic disaster, he doesn’t know how to make a phone call

Number three was the resource lady who has said for several days that maintaining the reservoirs is much less expensive this time of year. And then finally admitting that this is also the high season for the fires, so they may need to reconsider that. Again, that was sterling, but I just found out today that they drained the reservoir in February 2024. So this time of year was the correct time of the year to drain it last year. I guess they’re still trying to figure out the best time of year to put water back in it.

Number four was the director of emergency preparedness explaining the alert system. Apparently LA contracted for their own custom alert system (I’m sure somebody got rich) and did not use the state and nationwide systems that have been proven. After several days of it not working properly, it went off-line and a few hours later there was a flood of inaccurate messages very quickly. Again, that’s not the salient point. The guy stood up yesterday and said that the system was working perfectly, but the signals could not get out because the power and Internet was down in those areas. After working on it for three days, they decided to tap into the proven national system. It only took a couple hours to get it up and running. And after cleaning out the pipe, it’s been working properly. But the award moment was when this guy stood up in front of national television and said our fire alert system is working perfectly, except it doesn’t work when there’s a fire

first runner-up was when the citizens caught and videotaped a transient with a propane torch, setting Christmas trees, and trash cans on fire, and they then detained him, the police took him into custody, and then the district attorney let him go for lack of probable cause. Clearly, he should’ve had a much bigger torch that would start a fire. The size of the house to begin with.

the current winner? last night and this morning, Newsome grabbed the top place again. In interviews at the site, and then interviews in his office, he said that nobody had told him that there was going to be a problem, and nobody is telling him what’s going on. Then he said, how am I supposed to fix it if nobody tells me what’s going on*. I don’t know about you guys, but when I was in charge of something, certainly with things that involve life, injury, and property destruction, I always knew what the hell was going on.

* second edit: having stated that, he returned to sucking his thumb, waiting for his mother to bring him a glass of milk

Of course, these are early results, I have a feeling some real germs are still forthcoming.

EDIT AFTERTHOUGHT: they’ve told us for days that there was no containment, or there’s 10 or 15% containment on one or two of the fires. As much as I make fun of these people, I am fairly confident that they will announce when the last house burns down, that the fire is 90% contained because there’s nothing left to burn

Then they will give each other awards
 
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Bill

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One of our complete (well known) looser administrations demolished the 90% of the US Forestry Service which invented the "BLM", which doesn't care anything about forest fires, not doing any mandated under brush control, or even keeping the fire roads clear. The CCC (California Conservation Control) normally also kicked in keeping the lands in decent shape, but without the state & federal Department of the Interior, and those Forest officials, the forests burn.

Yes Jim, the Pinion Pine requires fire (high heat) to crack open it's seed. In the high Sierras, the Pinion Pine grows right up the tree line. Normal summer thunderstorms ignite these most wild fires every year.
MiacoDoug....I really don't know where to start with all that.

The BLM originated from the GLO (General Land Office), which goes back to 1812. It became the BLM in 1946 by the Dept of the Interior. The US Forest Service was created in 1876 has its roots in the Dept of Agriculture.

The Pinion Pine doesn't require fire to open it's pine cones. You are thinking of the "closed cone pines." There are three species of them in California. there are another six found primarily in Mexico and Central America. Pinyon pine doesn't handle fire well. It generally requires just enough cover to keep the soil cool enough for seedlings to become established.. They are mostly found on the east side of the Sierra and into Nevada and Arizona growing on rocky xeric sites.


I'm not sure why you are bringing up the cities in the Bay Area. But, those cities are what they are because there was, and currently have a diverse stable economy. That created a demand for housing. They were smaller towns that grew into a single urban area over time. The economy in that area has transition along with economic needs and technology very well. There isn't going to be a demise of the housing market there. Southern California's development had a lot more speculation involved, but that wasn't unique to that area. Simply put, people with money bought land and subdivided it.

The 1971 San Fernando Valley earthquake was the result of thrusting. That is one side of the fault is slipping upward. This is what lifted the Santa Susana/San Gabriel ranges on the north side of the San Fernando Valley. There are numerous open spaces where you can hike and see the result of that thrusting as you walk through that area. Water being removed or added in fault zones can contribute to earthquakes by lubricating the fault zones or changing weight distribution. But, I just looked it up in regards to the 1971 earthquake and can find no reference to water pumping.
 

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Nope… what will happen is a large portion of the country will hear just enough from their political side that blames the other side (doesn’t matter which one is which). They will stop listening to anything else and accept that as the only fact that matters. It will just divide the country even more… just like everything else that’s happened in the past XX number of years.
This is part of the reason I'm an independent. Both sides have and are doing plenty to piss me off.
 

pjtoledo

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This is part of the reason I'm an independent. Both sides have and are doing plenty to piss me off.
I hear 'ya there loud 'n clear but it's getting pissed on that really infuriates me.
 

sgtsandman

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I hear 'ya there loud 'n clear but it's getting pissed on that really infuriates me.
I'm pretty sure we're getting that too and they are telling us that it's raining.
 

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Here's a video from a Californian on the devastation.

 

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Bill, Your opinion I enjoy to hear.........The Pinion Pine seed requiring fire to open was a quote from a "California State Employee". The report is comprised in a half inch thick book. I really don't want to dig into.

I worked for the Menlo Park USGS Department of Tectonophysics. Have the report in my library. Even had a friend who worked in the area of water depletion who was a tech at that spanking new facility which was 40 miles away from the epicenter pumping all the water they could. On the main fault. The water was for the newly planned Valencia area off I-5. A 35 foot drop for any water well field would never allowed here in Texas. Where I also worked. We have the water wars here also.

All I'm stating is that development is sometimes easy to see underground, as well as above. Downhole instrumentation is what I do. Setting seismometers, microphones, ect.

Don't forget the salt content in the air next to the coast helps wood evaporate water.

What would it take to enjoy a much better engineered structure? "Hardy board"; a cement based wood fiber product, combined with masonry construction is what I see mandated on new construction in those affected areas.

I used to really love hiking around those coastal valleys, it could get crazy hot sometimes with no wind. There would be 3 fires burning at one time around seperate parts of the San Fernando valley for example, for 9 months. Started in Tuna Canyon, burned across the Chatsworth hills (where I lived, not far from the Manson Ranch in Box Canyon), up to the San Gabriel Valley, back towards the coast headed west then up Laurel Canyon. I knew some kids that cut school & went to light fire crackers & started an abandon house on fire, we were trapped at the school inside for a hour as the fire went past us. They never got caught.

Hope all turns out as good as it may. With loss after loss. -Doug.
 
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Catch the arsonists, then lynch them. Seems to me that no one in the neighborhood should have a problem with do not call the cops, just "shoot, shovel, shut-up".

Californicate will not not prosecute those animals.

Here in New Mexico that California trend is coming unless we shake off the effects of that malignant dwarf we have for a governor.

I've already spent $6000 to remove trees and brush close to my house. Did not matter to Allstate - they cancelled my policy the day we moved into this place. We have just two acres of mostly pinion and scrub oak. The locals call that "freeze dried gasoline".

I am concerned I will not be able to buy homeowners insurance after this California cluster-fluster. If I can my premium will go thru the roof.

The ripple effect will hit us all.

Were it up to me, I'd give California back to Mexico.

Jim

Jim
 

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Giving California away would just be a bigger border problem.
 

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Bill, Your opinion I enjoy to hear.........The Pinion Pine seed requiring fire to open was a quote from a "California State Employee". The report is comprised in a half inch thick book. I really don't want to dig into.
You can do a search for most of the common shrubs and trees under the usda.gov domain by botanical name and get a good rundown of their characteristics.


There's everything you want to know about the species of pinus monophylla in the Sierra Nevada

State of California employees are like employees everywhere else. There are some really smart people and some people who make you wonder why they are there. While I was doing some work with Fish and Wildlife I had a hydrologist argue with me that Sacramento is in a desert. After some time he backed down to calling it a semi-arid climate. Wrong again. Sacramento has a Mediterranean climate with a hot summer That classification is Csa. The cool foggy coast is a cool summer Mediterranean Csb. Typically, going south you enter the steppe climates which are BSk and BSh. Those are the semi-arid climates. Eventually you transition into the desert climates BWk and BWh. Mountain ranges also play a role in this. See page 15 on this link to see a climate map: https://www.coastal.ca.gov/coastalvoices/resources/Biodiversity_Atlas_Climate_and_Topography.pdf
 
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Bill

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Giving California away would just be a bigger border problem.
I think Texas has a bigger border problem than California these days. It's come to be so expensive here that they can't live on what they make.
If California (or Texas, Florida, Illinois) left it would require a huge fiscal adjustment for the US. It also very likely Oregon and Washington would move out too. That's close to 20% of the nation's GDP.
 

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We do have a horrible border issue here. Its always been an open border and everyone knows it so they cross everywhere here.
 

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No offense, but an earthquake could break off Washington, Oregon, and California fron the continental USA and they could become their own country and I wouldn't care.

Texas has had a border problem that has gotten worse over the past few years. They continue to build a wall and man the border with Police and National Guard, but they're in constant conflict with the federal government trying to secure it.
 

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I remembered another member from that area... @Eddo Rogue

He hasn't been on since before Christmas.
 

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No offense, but an earthquake could break off Washington, Oregon, and California fron the continental USA and they could become their own country and I wouldn't care.

Texas has had a border problem that has gotten worse over the past few years. They continue to build a wall and man the border with Police and National Guard, but they're in constant conflict with the federal government trying to secure it.
I say we add Chicagoland before we shove them out to sea.
 

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